Requiem for Gideon
by Persephone Muse
Summary: Going back to Season 3, after Penelop Garcia was shot. The team raced through the Virginian Mountains, heading towards Jason Gideon. Jane is missing again, Frank is back for her and this time, Gideon had called the BAU for help. But first they must find Jane...and Frank. H/P and Rossi/JJ pairings . Rated T for language.
1. Chapter Prologue

**A/N: This story takes place after Season 3 episode 9 (Penelope) – Garcia is convalescing at home.**

**. Disclaimer – I do not own any characters belonging to the CBS series Criminal Minds.**

**.**

**Requiem for Gideon**

Prologue

:

The BAU team was speeding in their standard black government SUVs, the blue flashers were on, sirens blaring.

Unit Chief SSAIC Aaron Hotch was driving the first vehicle with Emily Prentiss in the passenger seat, Dave Rossi in the back seat. In the second vehicle, Derek Morgan was driving with Dr. Spencer Reid and at his side and Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau in the back seat.

"So, let me understand this," Dave spoke, his face dark, eyes concealed behind his sunglasses. "You've been getting a file from Gideon every few months, his way of updating his whereabouts."

In the front, Emily turned to look for his expressions, she couldn't find any; Dave Rossi was a difficult man to read.

Hotch tried to concentrate on the road but he knew it was futile as his mind was in a riotous state. Top most was Gideon. And now, he had to appease his team.

He sighed before he replied, "What do you want me to say? The files, four in total were of dead victims from 4 states. There were no similarities except for the fact that they all closely resembled Sarah Matthews, or any brunettes." He tried hard not to glance over to where Emily was sitting, her expression neutral, eyes covered like Dave, by her oversized sunglasses. Emily knew he was trying to gauge her feelings on this; he always seemed to know what her thoughts were, just as she knew what he was thinking. It was a scary thing to discover not long ago when they were on a stake out and began completing each other's thoughts. He knew he had spent a lot of time partnering with her and they were getting too close. Closer than he would like, or was it?

Haley even suspected something.

"Look Hotch," Dave's voice softened slightly, "I'm not pointing any fingers, that's not what I'm getting at. The point is why is Gideon doing it? It was random, as you pointed. Did you find anything useful?"

"Think about it, Dave. Geographically, each body was found in a perfect compass direction; North, south, east, and west. But it was the states where the murder happened that made it intriguing. Minot, North Dakota. Brownsville, Texas. Boston, Massachusetts. And Eureka, California."

"That's quite a sick way of telling you where he's been."

Hotch was about to reply when Emily, who had been quiet all this time, cut in, "Gideon wants us to know where Frank had been. This is Frank's M.O., he chose these particular victims because of our connections with Gideon. Frank knew Gideon had left the BAU and he can't find him, so he struck where he knew would drive Gideon out of his 'hole'."

Dave frowned at her, "I still don't understand the connection with you guys."

Hotch was frowning; he did not understand where Emily was going with her logic.

Emily looked from Dave then to Hotch, saw their doubts and shook her head, she pulled the folders from the console, "Hotch, think about it. Your first assignment was in Minot, North Dakota. Derek's in Eureka, California. Reid's assignment, even though it was a brief one before he was transferred to the BAU by Gideon's request, was Brownsville, Texas. And mine was Boston, Massachusetts."

Hotch was surprised, he did not figure that tie-in.

"So this Frank is now a travelling serial killer with a penchant for the BAU? What gives?" Dave was clearly getting frustrated again. He was given a very quick and concise briefing of Frank and Jane, what Frank had done in Nevada, then the murder of Gideon's friend, Sarah Matthews which had driven Gideon back into his shell and without a warning, except that letter to Spencer Reid, he was gone. Not one word but for these cryptic files.

_Damn you Jason!_ Dave privately cussed at his old friend. Oh yeah, he knew Jason; moody, passionate and driven. Many people within the bureau had compared the two back in their younger years when they worked together but Dave knew they were anything but similar. Dave snorted to himself; that bastard was too full of himself, not that he blamed his old friend as it seemed Jason was destined for a life of loneliness and suffrage, he was estranged from his own son.

Jason was born under a really bleak cloud where his real talent was; the ability to delve into the minds of the most diabolical killers. He had told Dave that it was not a talent but a curse that one day would drive him to the edge.

Had that time come?

He was good for the BAU, too good, and too brilliant. And driven.

Dave watched Hotch as he drove on. Here was another man who was quite like Gideon; dedicated, honest, brilliant, and driven.

And Dave was one of them; look at his three failed marriages. Although the first two was not caused by his work but by his other 'love'; lust. What could he say? He loved pretty women. Especially the ones that didn't expect anything in return, just a roll in the hay or bed and that was it. He had sown many wild oats in his younger days.

However, those were the days. Admittedly, he was getting on his years and now there was one person he had met that really caught his eyes and she didn't know it.

But he couldn't have her. She was…she belonged to someone else now.

At least he had the satisfaction of seeing her far more than her partner. She was a workaholic, just like him and the rest of the team.

And then something had driven Gideon to leave or hide. Whichever it was, he had almost crippled the team when they needed him most.

Hotch was suspended because of their previous case that caused a young college woman to take her own life.

And Emily decided to transfer from the team.

Everything was so sudden and at the same time.

But Hotch, his sense of duty and dedication to his team defied Erin's orders, brought Emily back with him and the team united again minus Gideon managed to solve the case.

The consequences of their actions? None, Hotch was reinstated and Emily canceled her request for transfer.

It was after that the team found out Gideon had left, his return unknown.

That was when he came in; Dave, having kept in touch with news pertaining the BAU, found themselves in a slight predicament. They were short a consultant.

Dave was ready to come back and he had some unfinished business of his own that he had hoped to finish.

What about _her_?

Ah! The BAU media liaison.

She was also extraordinary and one of a kind. And never judge her by her looks.

Blonde, big blue eyes and lips that were meant for…

_Craps! Get that part off your brains, Dave!_

Okay, she was damn smart and the way she dealt with the media, she was a professional and damn scary to watch the way she could tear some of the reporters apart when they became too demanding and they didn't realize they've been had.

And gosh-darn pretty!

"This Frank, he really had it bad for Jason, doesn't he?" Dave said.

No one answered but then, no answer was needed. It was obvious.

"Dave, this is not the time to analyze Jason. We need to get there before it's too late. I need you to negotiate with Frank. He doesn't know you and it might catch him off guard as he'll be expecting me to do the talking," Hotch said.

Dave couldn't help but was reminded of the time in Colorado when Hotch had asked him to be the lead negotiator to the cult leader Benjamin Cyrus.

At that time, he was not aware of the real reason Aaron couldn't do it but now he did.

Emily Prentiss.

Ever since Milwaukee, they had been more understanding to each other and there were signs that they had become closer than just colleagues.

But then, at that time Hotch was going through what was left of his marriage and he was afraid it was some sort of a rebound on his part and that Emily could get the bad part of the bargain; Hotch might be able to salvage his marriage.

In the end, it didn't. Haley simply couldn't put up with a workaholic husband.

And Hotch quit trying. He was moving on. The only thing he clung on from that marriage was Jack. The boy was the apple in his father's eyes. He was still young, all children stuck to their mothers more so than their fathers. Hotch knew that at that moment, he couldn't fight to have full custody, just joint which was more than he had expected.

That was actually not surprising, Dave found out during one of their late night drink and chat session at the office after everyone had left. It took a long while for him to get Aaron to talk about it.

As it turned out, Haley was seeing someone on the side. Aaron found out when he was suspended prior the Milwaukee case. The phone call from the house phone and then Haley's cell phone was the first indicator. She tried to hide her nervousness by pretending to be indignant with him for staying on with the case, grisly pictures strewn about the coffee table.

He had thought that it was Jessica calling but after Haley had left, Jessica called. Aaron asked her if she had tried to call her sister a moment ago and Jessica had denied and was baffled about it herself.

Aaron was smart enough to get the call traced. It was Jack's doctor who had been treating him with his condition. After a couple more phone calls, putting two and two together he came up with something more than he expected.

Logic dictated he confronted his wife about her transgression but he realized that it wouldn't be right. He himself in more than physical sense was cheating on Haley as well.

_But you're cheating on her with your job! She is doing it with another man!_

Aaron argued with himself that, bottom line, it was the same. She was a beautiful woman and a lonely one as he Aaron was not home to give her what she needed; companionship.

The BAU was taking him away from her more often than not. He spent more time with the team than with his family.

In all honesty, Haley was like a single mom raising Jack all by herself.

No, he was not confronting her. It was his fault that she did that. In the end, he let her go, giving her the house and paying spousal and child support.

Dave felt sorry for his friend; he didn't deserved it but he knew that being in the FBI and especially in the BAU, as well as counter-terrorism, you were married to the job much more than your wife. His last wife had left him because of his dedication to the newly formed BAU unit at that time. He was away six days out of the week. She was tired of reheating his dinner and waiting for him.

He didn't blame her for walking out on him as well. It was either her or the job. At that time, the job was far more important to him and he was a natural at it.

"Dave?" Hotch called out from the front seat when Dave didn't reply.

Dave snapped out of his reverie and nodded his head. Aaron was right; this psycho Frank was certainly not expecting a new addition to the team. And Dave was an expert in negotiating.

"You're right, Aaron. He wouldn't be expecting me."

Dave thought he saw Aaron's shoulders slumped slightly out of relief but he was not too sure about it. "Aaron, in order to understand Frank, we must get to Gideon."

"And Jane." Emily said. "His main obsession of her has a lot to do with her disappearance and why we're going there."

"Aaron, tell me again how did he first contact you?"

..End of Part 1..


	2. Chapter 1

**Thank you everyone for taking an interest in this, I hope you'll stay with it!**

Requiem for Gideon

Chapter 1

It all started after the Gideon had left the team.

Hotch was in his office working on his never ending reports when a secretary came in with a flat yellow manila envelope.

"Agent Hotchner, this envelope was delivered via Federal Express."

Hotch took the envelope from her and thanked her promptly.

Looking over the front of the flat envelope, he recognized the scrawling handwriting at once; Jason Gideon.

There was no return address.

Gideon was still being mysterious over his whereabouts.

Hotch used the letter opener and slid through the sealed top. Looking in, he saw a folder, popularly used by all government agencies; old habits never die?

Sliding it out, he opened the folder and saw that it was all photocopied from the original and that this was from Minot, North Dakota PD.

North Dakota? What was Gideon doing all the way up there?

It was a recent murder case of a woman, brunette, in her 30s to early 40s and methodically cut on her chest. A rib was missing but method of death indicated that her throat was slashed deeply across, so deep Hotch could see the neck bones. She couldn't yell or scream if she wanted to as her vocal cords were severed.

But it was the missing rib that caught his attention. Frank Breitkopf? Looking at the date of the murder, it took place before Jason had left the BAU.

Was that what Gideon was doing? Tracking down Frank? All by himself?

Hotch shook his head as he closed the folder and contemplated what would be the next step, and what Gideon was trying to tell him.

Minot PD had not called them and this was just one murder victim. Certainly they would have no reason to tie in with the murders in Nevada.

Not sure what to do, Hotch placed the folder aside and went on with his reports. The reports had deadlines to be completed and filed away.

..

A week later after the first envelope, came more.

Two more folders were delivered by the same method. They came via Gideon.

One from Brownsville, Texas and the other Boston, Massachusetts.

Two female victims, same method of death as well as one rib from each victim was missing.

Frank again.

The time frame was only 3 and 4 months ago. Frank was moving fast.

Had Jane left him again?

Three killings with Frank Breitkopf's signature but from different states; Frank was moving with Gideon on his trail.

_Damn it Gideon! What do you want me to do? Contact each PD in these three states inquiring about it?_

That was not the standard protocol.

PDs from those states usually contact and inviting the BAU if the case was still within its own jurisdiction.

Hotch frowned hard as he stared at the two cases, well three as he pulled the first one from his desk drawer; he thought he saw a pattern of the locations but he couldn't pinpoint to it.

He was momentarily distracted by a feminine laughter; Emily Prentiss.

He smiled as he enjoyed hearing that and it gave him the excuse to glance down and watch her.

This was his new 'hobby'. The observation of Emily Prentiss had begun to occupy his attention from his work was a new distraction for him.

He couldn't help it. She was damn beautiful. The last two years of working with her and trying to resist the temptation…the walls were beginning to collapse. His will power considerably weakened.

When she was first assigned to the BAU, he had her partnered with the other team members, never with him. He was afraid that she would distract him to a point where he was not able to concentrate on the case in hand.

Then he discovered she had a natural knack at profiling, along with her sense of compassion shown through the trust she gained from victims' families and her way with children was amazing.

Yeah, if she were to have any kids, she would be a great mother. Thoughts of dark haired little girls with her eyes and wits floated in his mind. He could just picture them and Jack being an overprotective big brother…

"Penny?"

He snapped out of his private thoughts and looked from where he was staring out of the window to the door where his vision was standing, her hands full of reports.

He almost groaned aloud; more files?

"Pardon?"

"Penny for your thoughts. You didn't answer when I knock." She moved into the office and placed her files on his desk and without invitation, she sat down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. "Looks like you were deep in thought about something good."

"Something good?" He felt totally lost.

Emily grinned and explained, "You were grinning, albeit slightly but you were grinning. And you rarely grin."

Hotch tried to cover himself by attempting to frown at her but realized it was more difficult and consequently he looked goofy.

"It's nothing big, just recalling about Jack and his constant reminder to me that this weekend, we are suppose to go to the new children's museum. There was a promo about it on TV he saw and had been hounding me about it."

"Ah! I've heard about it! One of my neighbors' kids was telling me. It sounds exciting."

Hotch nodded, "I saw the promo as well and yeah, I'm looking forward to it as well."

Emily stood up, "Well, that's a good thing. Enjoy yourselves this weekend."

Hotch looked at her, "Thank you. Uh…are you going somewhere?"

Emily leaned slightly close to him over his desk, "Hotch, it's after 5pm. On a Friday."

After 5pm already? It seemed he had just arrived to work!

"Oh…Yeah. Have a good weekend then."

Emily shook her head as she headed out of his office, "I will, Hotch. Please tell Jack I say hey and watch for the Dinosaurs." And she left.

Hotch watched her retreating into the bullpen. Grabbing her purse, she waved her good byes to the rest of the team and left.

When he couldn't see her anymore, he sighed as he glared at the stack Emily had left on his desk; it would have to wait till next week.

He stood up and got ready to leave his office and began his weekend with Jack. He had promise to pick his son early and head out to this place called 'Chuck E. Cheese'.

Jack and his cousins swore by that place; the best pizzas and the best arcade where you win tickets and trade them for prizes. Sounds like a place that swindles parents into forking more money without them realizing it and fool that he was, he'd indulged his son's whims.

As he left his office, he saw that the bullpen was empty. The guys were fast in clearing out after Emily, especially when it was a Friday evening.

…

Monday rolled around fast.

Hotch had a blast with Jack; his son was becoming more mature and had handled the lost of his mother well.

Hotch had tried his best in giving his son more of his time than at the office and as he drove him to his aunt's house, he was glad he did.

Chuck E. Cheese would have been great but it was over crowded as that place also catered to kiddies birthday parties. It was capable of handling five parties at a time, every hour and a half, it was total chaos and mayhem.

The major rip-off was the tickets. It seemed so cool, especially watching Jack's eyes as he managed to accumulate a vast amount of tickets. Hotch thought his son hit the jackpot until he saw other kids with bigger stack than Jack's. And when they traded the tickets for prizes, he was indignant to find out that 500 tickets were worth a rubber bouncing ball and a small box of five crayons. Hotch suspected the latter product coming from an Asian country where lead contents in children's toys were not strictly inspected.

As soon as Jack fell asleep on the way home, Hotch pried the crayon package from his son's hand and pocketed it, to be thrown away as soon as they got home. He had kept spare boxes of parents approved crayons in a closet and he intended to substitute them. Jack would never know.

Saturday, he took Jack to the children show. It was not quite what he had expected but more. It was a hands-on experience for children as well as educational.

The museum exhibitions let the children touch, smell, feel, hear and also taste. Jack couldn't believe he could touch everything he saw and so did Hotch. In fact, father had a lot more fun than son.

Sunday, they took it easy; house cleaning and laundry. Hotch took care of all the rooms except for Jack's, he let his son cleaned it, of course, under Hotch's supervision.

That evening, they rented a couple of movies and ordered pizza. They didn't finish the pizza as they passed out on the couch, the first movie still playing.

…

Parking his vehicle in the bureau secured parking garage, he spotted Emily getting out of hers. She spotted him too and walked to him, greeting him cheerfully.

Still feeling good from the weekend, he smiled at her.

Emily felt a jolt inside her; he smiled at her!

"Had a good weekend?" She asked.

"I had a great weekend with Jack," and he proceeded to tell her what he and Jack did.

Emily grinned as she listened to the excitement in his voice; she was privately glad, very glad, that he did as it made him seemed relax and almost carefree. Almost.

They parted ways when they arrived at the bullpen, she to her desk and he to his office upstairs.

She put her things down on her desk and went to the break room and prepared two steaming mugs of coffee. Sipping hers slowly, she walked up the short stairs leading to his office and stopped right in front of his office.

Hotch was frowning deeply as he stared at a package. He was oblivious to all surrounding him.

It was another package from Gideon.

"Hotch? Is everything all right?" Emily asked worriedly.

Hotch looked up when Emily spoke and shook his head. "Yeah, just getting some strange mail." Eyeing a cup in her hand, he recognized that it was his in-office coffee mug; _she made coffee for me? _

"For me?" He asked indicating the mug as he walked around his desk and to her.

She nodded and held it out; Hotch thanked her as he took a sip. Taste good.

"So, what kind of strange package? Did you take it down to the lab for analysis and prints?" She asked.

Hotch shook her head, "Not strange, strange." Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he said, "It's from Gideon. Only that there was no return address."

Emily's eyes widened, "Gideon? What's going on? Where's he at?"

Hotch debated with himself for less than a second before he told her about the other packages. He trusted Emily; it wasn't easy but through time and time again, she had more than proven herself as a profiler, a friend, and a confidante.

Emily's eyes were threatening to pop out as he went on with the mystery files.

"Did you call those police departments?"

Hotch shook his head, "I don't want to…open a bigger can of worms than I wanted…yet."

Emily was about to ask more questions when JJ hurriedly rushed up the steps towards his office and calling his name as well.

"Hotch! We have an urgent case. Industrial City, Nevada."

Emily and Hotch exchanged a look; Frank?

As she walked into the office in a hurry, JJ didn't notice that Hotch and Emily were standing together pretty close.

They stepped away from each other quickly when JJ rushed in; both were stunned in finding themselves standing so close together, what with Hotch's issue with personal space.

But JJ felt some tension in the room and then she recalled that just before she rushed in, she saw Hotch and Emily standing close together, whispering. Unusually close.

_Strange…and hmmm._

"Um…am I interrupting something?" JJ asked.

"No, we were just talking… the Gilbert case."

JJ nodded and saw both spotted light blushes; _what the hell is going on here?_

JJ had no choice but to accept his explanation as the current case in her hand was urgent.

"Okay. This case, we need to go there now." Her face, Emily saw, was pale.

Hotch held out his hand for the file which JJ passed it to her.

He quickly scanned and turned pale as well. "JJ, call everyone and meet in the jet as soon as possible."

"Hotch?" Emily asked, concerned for him when she saw his expression.

He handed her the file and she looked at it. Now her face mirrored his.

She nodded, "Yeah...I'll get my go-bag." She muttered as she walked out of the office.

Hotch watched her walk away and recalling the urgency of the case, he slipped Gideon's files and the new case into his briefcase and grabbing his go-bag, he left the office and soon joined the two women as they took the elevator down to the SUV and then out to their awaiting jet.

…End of Chapter 2…


	3. Chapter 2

Requiem for Gideon

Chapter 2

:

"Okay listen up," Hotch began as soon as the jet took off. "We have a serious case and it's urgent we get this UnSub."

"What's going on, Hotch?" Morgan looked up at him.

"Four women found in Industrial City, Nevada. All severely beaten and raped."

"Any semen evidence?" This from Reid.

Hotch shook his head and passed the file around, "UnSub used condoms and autopsies confirmed they were violated with a metal object several times."

JJ and Emily quickly passed the file to Morgan, one time was more than enough. The images were permanently etched in their minds.

When Rossi looked at the file, he shook his head, "This is truly animalistic."

"Actually," Reid began. "Animals never use sex as a scare tactic and their need to mate was more for survival than…" He glanced at each of them and then muttered, "That's not what you're implying"

Dave shook his head as he gave Reid a sad look. "Not at all. I get that animals are much better than humans but this is more sadistic. We'll definitely catch the bastard."

"Yes, and it looks like he spends a lot of time with each of them."

"He has an isolated location." Emily said.

"Yeah, somewhere where no one can hear their screams…scumbag." Morgan uttered angrily.

"The bodies, were they found in the same location?" Dave asked.

"They were found in remote deserted highways…I'll triangulate their sites." Reid was looking at a map on the laptop. "UnSub should be within 5-7 miles …"

The team was used to Reid moving into his comfort zone and zoned out everyone.

Hotch arched his brow at him and continued, "PD have ID'ed three of four women, they were reported missing about 6 months ago. Morgan and Rossi, the dump sites, JJ, what's the feel from media?"

She shook her head, "It made headlines in their local papers and news, nearest major city is Carson City but it's 50 miles east and it's on the internet news. There's no way we can contain it locally."

"And if there's a fifth body, all hell's gonna break loose." Dave announced ominously.

"And the heat's on for the Sheriff and us." Hotch agreed. "Let's try to contain the fire before it spreads."

They nodded and prepared to land in Nevada.

…

A man hopped out of a semi-truck along the rural highway in Virginia. He did not carry a bag. After he closed the door to the passenger side, he waved at the driver who drove away.

The man looked up the mountains, and smiled. "I'm coming for you."

…..

"Hotch," Emily called out to him, his back was against a wall. "He's in the garage." She pointed at the building.

He nodded, "Back up won't be here for another half hour."

"It'll be too late for Michelle. We have to act now."

He looked at her, she was across from him by the side of what used to be the main factory.

They could hear screams every now and then.

Hotch and Emily were driving out of the town of Industrial City when they spotted a suspicious truck with a camper. They began to follow it and led them to a remote and debilitating factory building.

The brick walls were crumbling and rooftop partially collapsed.

Except for an old garage building.

That was where the truck had parked beside it.

And soon after, a woman was heard screaming inside.

The factory was more than 40 miles from the main town. The rest of the BAU team was at the opposite side of the town, as well as the police force.

Shoving her phone into her pants pocket, Emily nodded over to Hotch, "The Sheriff and the team are on their way, Hotch."

Another piercing scream sounded from the garage.

Emily winced hard and began to feel immense anger for the kidnapped victim, a college student who had come home for the holidays, over four months ago.

Seeing her anger welling up, Hotch called out, "Let's go, Prentiss. We're going to take that son of a bitch down." They moved silently towards the garage.

Another scream emitted from the building, this one was much labored.

"We have to go in, Hotch. She's not going to make it." Emily pleaded.

He nodded and turned to face the door and kicked it in. It broke on the rusty hinges.

"HELP! SOMEBODY!" They heard the victim, Michelle Lee, cries for help and her voice began to weaken as she kept yelling...

Moving in as fast as they could, Emily and Hotch followed the sound of the woman's whimpers.

Hotch held his hand out to stop Emily, "Keep going on, find her. The UnSub's hiding somewhere."

Emily stared at him "I'll back you up."

He shook his head, "No, go find her now!" He ordered and turned to another door and disappeared.

Alone, Emily moved ahead and opened another door they figured Michelle was being held, her screams had come from there.

She tried the door knob; of course it was locked.

Emily walked away from the door and moved around the narrow corridor, looking for something to pry open the door…there! In another room, a crowbar!

Hurrying in, she forgot to check behind the door and next thing she was hit in the head from behind.

She went down on her knees, the lump behind the head began throbbing. "Shit!" She muttered and quickly got back on her feet, gun pointing out and saw a man lunging at her with a long metal rod.

Without hesitation, Emily began firing at him, almost emptying her cartridge.

Seeing the UnSub dead on his back, multiple blood pool from her shooting, Emily stumbled out of the room, she was feeling sick from the blow behind her head which now spotted a giant lump the size of an emu egg!

"Fucking douche bag!" She glared at the UnSub. "I hope you rot in hell." And just as she reached the locked door, she heard another gunshot from deep in the garage.

Moving around old and abandoned vehicle parts, Emily went looking for Hotch instead.

As she round the corner, she collided into Hotch!

"Whoa!" He grabbed onto her to steady her balance. "It's me, Prentiss."

She nodded, "Are you okay? I heard gunshot."

"Yeah, I shot the UnSub."

Emily snapped her head fast and looked at him, "But I killed the UnSub!"

Surprised, "There were two of them!" They uttered at the same time.

"Where did we go wrong with our assessment?" Hotch wondered loudly.

"Let's go over that later, Michelle…" She pointed at the corridor. "The door is locked."

Still holding onto her, he guided them to the hallway where the locked door was.

Hotch began to banged against the door with his shoulder and after a few attempts, the door gave in and Hotch almost fell inward were it not for Emily's quick reflex and caught his shirt and helped him regain balance.

Guns pointed inside before they looked in and saw Michelle Lee on a bed, there was blood all over her and on a long table. And on a wooden work table nearby, there were several tools, ranging from a metal baton to a broken glass bottle; they were covered in blood.

"Oh my god!" Emily's eyes were wide with shock. "They're animals!" She and Hotch rushed to the victim and saw that she was not breathing.

Placing a hand by her neck, Hotch began to exclaim, "There's a weak pulse...wait, I can't feel it anymore!"

Without another word the two agents began to administer CPR on her.

But after about five minutes, the two agents saw that Michelle Lee was gone.

It was then they heard the approaching sirens.

"Didn't matter anymore…we're too late." Emily hung her head down as she placed her hands on Michelle's. "She suffered so much…so damn much!" Emily quickly glanced at the lower half of Michelle's body, it was all bloodied and torn. "Maybe it's good thing she didn't make it."

Hotch nodded, "Think of the physical trauma."He said softly. "Her recovery would have been devastating."

Emily nodded.

Then they heard a faint knock.

They looked up and glanced around and saw a door in the corner of the room.

Picking up their guns quickly, they walked cautiously to it and slowly opened the door.

When they entered a small room that used to be for storage, now there were five women kept in chains. Their necks were held in large metal collars and their hands and feet were cuffed to far side of the wall across from them.

Their heads were covered with burlap sacks, and they were stripped of their clothing and looked as if they had been chained for a long time. The smell of unwashed bodies and feces and urine was over-powering.

"Oh my god!" Emily staggered against the wall behind them.

"Emily, go …get out of here." Hotch tried to breathe through his mouth.

Hearing them, a few of the women began to stir and rattled their chains.

Shaking her head, "No…I'll be okay. I want to stay with them." Straightening, she approached them and removed one of the women's head covering.

Seeing the panicked and scared looks in her eyes, Emily quickly told her that they were there to rescue them. "What's your name?"

"Are they…they…dead?" She began to cry. "Did you kill them? Please say you did, they're animals…bastards…rapists."

"Yes, they're dead, both of them."Emily told her.

She sagged down with relief. "My name is Rachel Timmons. My name is Rachel Timmons…" she began to weep uncontrollably.

Emily lay a reassuring hand, "We're going to get you out of here, Rachel…the police are here." She turned around to the doorway when she heard several footsteps. There were a few EMTs with a stack of blankets, and his EMT bag. Another came in and Emily saw he was affected by the sight. "I'll be back." Emily swallowed hard before she dashed out.

As she left the storage room, she entered the room where Michelle lay and saw an LEO covering the body of Michelle Lee gently. He nodded to Emily. "Well done Agent."

Emily came to him, "I just wish we'd gotten to her in time."

He nodded, "Yeah," he then looked up at her and to the other room, "I heard there're more in there."

She nodded, "Yeah, five." She patted his back compassionately and left.

Coming out of the garage, Emily took in fresh air, gulping and breathing as if she had been deprived of oxygen for a long time.

"Emily?" JJ came to stand with her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah…yeah. I'm fine. Just needed some fresh air."

JJ nodded and stood with her.

"You know, I wish I had a chance…to beat the crap out of that asshole. Shooting him was too easy for him. I wanted him to suffer just the way he done to the women…Michelle, Julie, Nora, Kay, Allie, and the five…Rachel Timmons… we found inside."

JJ nodded, "Emily, you know the first time you begin hitting him, you'll never stop and you'll regret it later."

"Yeah, you're right." She looked at her friend and sighed.

"But you'd get a sense of satisfaction." JJ laughed as she placed her hands on her hips. "We won't object to that."

Emily turned to look at her, "I did get some satisfaction, actually…made him eat some damn metal." She laughed cynically as she tapped on her Glock.

They looked up when they saw Hotch and Dave at the other side of the garage, talking.

"Wonder what they're talking about?" JJ asked, her eyes on the Italian agent…she couldn't take her eyes off him.

Emily saw her looks and smile, "He's not bad looking. Don't know about the goatee."

JJ snapped her gaze, "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I mean, Jayje. I saw the way you look at Rossi."

Frowning, JJ shook her head, "No…no, you're mistaken Em. He's not even my type."

Emily laughed again, "Not your type? Bull!"

JJ shrugged, "Fine, have it your way. But I'm telling you, he's not my type."

Straightening from the wall, Emily turned to her best friend, "You keep telling that to yourself and you're going to be an old hag…all alone and single with a house full of cats for company."

JJ glared at her friend before she realized Emily was teasing her. "You're such an ass, Em! You're the one who's going to end up an old hag with twenty cats if you deny him."

"What do you mean, JJ?"

"You and Hotch."

Facing her, "Me? And Hotch?"

She nodded.

"JJ there's no… look, Hotch is not interested in me!" She hissed at her. "And…and I'm not even interested in him." Using JJ's words, "He's not my type."

Brows arched high, "That's not what I'm seeing."

"Well, I think you need your eyes examined, my friend. Hotch and I are just colleagues. That's all." She walked away from her friend.

Hotch looked up from talking to Dave when he sensed movement, he recognized the way she walked determinedly; she was upset.

Thinking she was still upset at the case, Hotch excused himself from Dave and went after her.

He found her by the SUV, leaning against the vehicle, arms folded across her chest.

"Penny?" He asked.

She looked up at him, "What?"

He grinned, "Just returning your offer."

She frowned at him, "You have a strange sense of humor, Hotch."

He shrugged, "Jack thinks I'm funny."

She shook her head chuckling, "Jack haven't seen the real you. I've seen your attempt at humor and sadly, you need help."

Trying to look indignant but he ended up chuckling as he stood next to her, leaning against the SUV, "Are you volunteering?"

She looked at him, "No. Humor comes naturally. You either have it or you don't." She then sighed, "And unfortunately, I don't." And shove her hands in her pants pocket.

He shook his head, "You've been funny on separate occasions."

"When?"

He thought for a while before he shrugged, "Well, there were a few occasions." He tried to sound convincing.

They began to laugh together.

"Thanks for trying, Hotch."

He nodded as he straightened from the SUV, "Come on, let's get out of here, the Sheriff and his merry men can handle from here."

" Was that an attempt?" She chuckled.

He turned, "What? Attempt at what?"

She chuckled, "Humor! You said the Sheriff and his _merry_ men can handle from here."

"And that's funny?"

She laughed more, "Yes, it is. Jack's right, you have your funny moment."

They opened the doors to their SUV and climbed in, "Ready?"

She nodded, "I'm ready."

…

In Virginia, at a remote mountain cabin, a man was standing at the front door.

Trying the handle, he found it unlocked and entered.

"Jason, I'm here." He said when he crossed the threshold, "Where's my dearest Jane?" He asked calmly.

…

End of Chapter 2


	4. Chapter 3

Requiem for Gideon

Chapter 3

:

Emily was still feeling low when the team hopped into their jet. JJ made two cups of tea but Emily was not in the mood.

JJ left her alone as she joined Dave near the back of the cabin. He didn't glance up.

Hotch came to sit down beside Emily, "I have a friend who has a problem." He began.

Turning her gaze from the window, she turned to look at him, "Oh? What kind of problem?"

"She's sad."

A curve on the corner of her lips, "What are you going to do about it?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. I wish I knew what her problem is. I wanted to take her for ice cream." He said calmly.

Trying not to laugh, "Ice Cream? What are you? Middle School? Fourteen?"

He leaned over to her, "I like ice cream, and there's no age limitations on how old you have to be to like ice cream."

"I heard that ice cream is quite fattening."

"And I heard that one scoop of ice cream will not fatten you up, that's the rumor."

"The rumor is that… you're such a liar." She began to laugh quietly.

"Prove it. Prove to me I'm a liar." He smiled deeply; his dimples showing as his eyes crinkled with humor.

She leaned away from him, eyeing him skeptically, "What do you mean?"

"Come have ice cream with me." He invited her.

"Just ice cream?"

He nodded, "Er, what else? Surely a scoop is enough…don't be so greedy."

She laughed again. "I'm not greedy! I haven't even said yes anyways."

"Oh, you'll say yes and go with me. No one refuses an ice cream treat, especially since I'm treating."

"Okay…okay, I'll go. Just one scoop only?" She tried to pout.

He shook his head, "Oh no, that's not going to work on me. Jack tried that and I'm immune to pouts."

She shrugged, "Thought I'd try that."

"And fail miserably." He muttered and then chuckled. "All right, Agent Prentiss, two scoops but that's it. Gotta keep you in good shape, can't have you weighed down with dairy product."

"I thought you just said ice cream is not fattening?"

"Well, it's not if you consume moderately."

"Such a driven man."

"And good at it."

"They better be the best ice cream available and it's gotta be a big giant scoop, like…like the size of a shovel." She chuckled.

He shook his head as he laughed, "Like I said, you're greedy."

"Hey, you wanted to treat me, so let's go!"

"I'm regretting my offer…"

Across from them, Dave had a book in his hand, JJ working on her reports. "So, Hotch and Emily?" He muttered.

"Yeah, she's denying it but…" JJ shook her head as she continued writing, her eyes on the report. "You can see" She looked across to the two were chatting amicably. "Colleagues, my ass." She added.

Arching his brow, eyes kept on his book, he chuckled quietly, "Did she try to quiz you too?"

She stopped writing for a moment, "How did you know?"

Smiling smugly, "I just do, Jen. I know you." He replied simply.

"I hate profilers, especially smug arrogant ass." She continued with her work.

"But you like this smug arrogant ass." He continued quietly, his eyes on the book.

She laughed.

"…you know I'm right and you like me…"

….

"I don't have her." He replied simply, his hands stretched outward. "What happen, Frank? What happened between you and Jane?"

Frank shook his head slowly, "I pushed a little too far."

"She was scared. You scared her. And she ran from you."

"I didn't mean to." He frowned and shut his eyes for a moment before opening them, and when he did, Gideon saw he was no longer the Frank he was talking to a moment ago. This was the real Frank Breitkopf.

He was staring at Gideon in a cold manner, "Where is Jane?" He then raised his hand out revealing the gun he had been holding.

"Don't do this, Jane won't like it." Gideon stood his ground. "I don't have her, you have to trust me. I don't know. Tell me where you last saw her, I'll call for help."

Shaking his head slowly, "I don't believe you." And then he fired the weapon and the bullet hit Gideon directly on his chest.

Falling backwards, Gideon lay on the wood floor.

Frank walked up to him and looked down at him, "You lied, Jason." He then looked up again and walked away.

"Jane!" He yelled out. "Where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are, my dearest." He walked out of the house and into the darkness.

A few minutes later, Gideon opened his eyes and winced in pain…Frank! He tried to sit up but saw blood began to seep out of his shirt and sweater.

Pulling out his phone, he dialed one set of number and said simply, "Frank is here." And dropped his phone as he fell out of consciousness.

….

The team walked into the bullpen, Garcia was waiting for them.

"Garcia, I thought I told you I don't want to see you for another week." Hotch said as he walked on. "Go home."

She followed him hurriedly, "I tried. I just can't stand sitting at home." She waved her hands about her. "I feel so useless and you know it's not me and I wanted to help but then again, you have Kevin Lynch…" She stopped walking and looked dejected.

Hotch felt bad and turned around, "Garcia, we called Lynch because he volunteered in your absence. You're not being replaced, how could you say that? You are the most integral part of the team." He paused and then when she didn't reply, he continued, "I promise I won't use him again, all right?"

Appeased, she nodded.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he turned slightly and saw Emily grinning.

"I have to put this stuff away. Any problems?" He continued with Garcia.

Shaking her head, "No, not at all. You closed a case and came back safely. I feel much better."

"Then, you and I should head out for dinner." Morgan came to stand behind her. "How's that, mamma?"

Smiling widely for her favorite profiler, "Okay, just… I don't want to go to…"

He held his hands up, "I know. We won't ever step foot in that place ever…it's too rich for my blood anyways. Just the appetizer cost half of my paycheck."

Reid rushed up, "How about Ravi Kabob? They serve authentic Pakistani food. It's really cheap, you eat with plastic fork and spoons."

Morgan raised a brow, "Sounds like my kind of joint." He turned to Garcia.

She nodded, "Okay, sounds good."

The guys smiled as they walked down and approached Emily's desk, "What about you, Princess, Pakistani?"

She shook her head, "No…I have other plans. Enjoy yourselves though."

Frowning, "Other plans? You have a boyfriend we don't know about?" He glanced at Garcia.

"Don't look at me. I don't know anything." She shook her head. "So, who's he?"

Shaking her head, she smiled, "No one unless you count my neighbor's cat, Rocky Road. He likes to hang out at my place more than my neighbor's."

Eyeing her skeptically, "If I didn't know you better," Morgan laughed. "You probably curry his favor by putting out a bowl of milk or a can of tuna."

"You caught me, Morgan. What can I say, Rocky Road is a loveable boy. At least he knows to go home when he needs to use the bathroom. And," she touched the back of her head, "besides, my head's still sore, I'm going home and take some pain killer and call it a night."

Reid frowned, "You shouldn't be by yourself, you might have a concussion."

Shaking her head vehemently, "No…I'll be fine. Go…go enjoy your kabobs and Basmati rice, Reid."

"Okay…If you're sure you don't want company…have a good night with Rocky Road." The three waved to her and walked out.

Shoulders sagged, Emily turned back to her desk and almost let out a yelp; Hotch was standing right in front of her. "Oh my god! You scare me, Hotch."

"Ready for some…Rocky Road?" He asked her.

Tilting her head, "You heard."

He nodded, "It's my favorite too." Then he held out a yellow manila envelope. "Got another one from Gideon. This is from Eureka, California." He said quietly. "It's from over a week ago."

Surprised, "He's really moving fast, what exactly does he want or looking for?" She replied in a soft tone.

"I don't know…but there's a connection to all four cases besides the missing ribs." He shook his head, "I'm not seeing it but it's there."

"Are you still up for ice cream or do you want to do a rain check?"

"No, not at all, unless you don't feel it." Then it occurred to him. "Is it your head?" He reached up and felt a slight lump on the back of her head. "Is this still hurting you?"

Feeling moved by his intimate gesture, she shook her head, "My mother never fail to remind me I have a thick skull."

He frowned slightly, "I don't think the Ambassador was talking about your head physically."

She chuckled, "I know! I'm teasing you, Hotch. Where's your sense of humor?"

"It's craving ice cream."

"You're obsessed with ice cream, aren't you?"

He looked intently at her, "I…okay, if you really want to know…" They were interrupted by his cell phone ringing. "Wonder who'd be calling me at this time?"

"Might be Jack …or Haley?" Emily pointed out. She knew about his separation with Haley.

He glanced at his Caller ID and sucked in a surprised breath and whispered, "Gideon."

Pressing the button, "Hotchner."

"Frank is here." And then silent.

"Gideon? Gideon? Hello? Gideon!" He turned to Emily. "Something's up."

"What did he say?"

"Frank is here." He repeated Gideon's words.

"Here? Where's here?" She asked anxiously.

"I think I know where Gideon is…he's at the cabin."

Eyes wide, "Gideon's here in Virginia?"

Nodding, "I'm sure of it. We need to get there now. I have a really bad feeling." He looked up, "Dave!"

Dave Rossi and JJ came out of his office but Hotch was not paying attention, "It's Gideon. He's at the cabin." Emily was studying her friend JJ.

Dave leaned over the railings, "After all these time? What does he want?"

"Frank Breitkopf." Emily said simply.

"Frank's back?" JJ chimed in, Emily nodded.

"Hotch thinks Gideon's in trouble and he's at his cabin." Emily said as Hotch tried Gideon's number again.

"Cabin?" Dave began walking down, JJ in tow. "What cabin? And who's Frank?"

"We'll fill you in, come on." Hotch began walking towards the door. "He's not answering his phone."

"I'll call the others," JJ said as she began to press her speed dial numbers for Morgan and Reid.

"JJ, they're at Ravi's Kabob's….can you pick them up?"

She nodded as she walked out with them, "Sure thing, Hotch."

Stepping into the elevators, the four agents were silent as they watched the door closed.

"Frank Breitkopf." Dave began…

….

End of Chapter 3


	5. Chapter 4

Requiem for Gideon

Chapter 4

:

"He sounds like a bastard." Dave said after Hotch and Emily filled him in about their run-ins with the serial killer.

"You have no idea." Hotch said as they hopped into the SUV and started the vehicle. Emily in the passenger seat while Dave hopped into the back.

"Since that second run-in, I think Gideon had never been the same." Emily said.

Hotch glanced over to her; they had never discussed why Gideon really left and this was as close it came to be and he agreed with Emily; Gideon had not been the same since Frank slipped off with Jane for the second time.

"And the deaths of his friend Sarah Matthews and Tracy Belle affected him a lot." Emily said sadly.

"The straw that broke the camel's back." Dave said.

Hotch and Emily nodded.

"He's carrying too much guilt and self-imposed misery." Dave continued. "Frank is a narcissistic ass and a loser. With a mother like that, no wonder Jane left him. She's much better off without him."

"But he's pretty obsessed with her, Dave." Emily uttered as she watched the road ahead. "How far are we?"

"Two more hours give or take." Hotch answered.

"So, this tracking…the four cases in these four states, is there any significance?" Dave was reading the files Gideon had sent.

Hotch's cell phone rang; it was Garcia.

"Are you guys almost there?" She asked.

"No, we're two hours away." Emily replied. "What do you have, PG?"

"Well, as it turns out, the four cases are not the only ones, there were three more cases, and get this. The two cases were in Maryland and here in Virginia."

Hotch and Emily exchanged worried looks again. "It's him all right." Emily nodded.

"Well not quite peaches," Garcia said. "The two vics are male."

"That's impossible!" Hotch uttered.

"His M.O. is evolving?" Emily took the file out and flipped through it again, looking for something that might indicate this new change.

"Garcia, Gideon has a surveillance system around the cabin, can you break into it?"

"Hmm…didn't know that, but I'll get to it, Garcia over and out!"

"What else do you know about Frank…and Jane? What makes you think she's running to Gideon?"

"Because Gideon is the only one that figured him out and in her unstable mind, she thinks Gideon can protect her from Frank." Emily answered.

"But from what you two told me, it looks like you, Emily, are the one that Jane talks to the most. You understand her more than anyone in the team."

Emily shook her head, "I'm not sure she'll be looking for me, everything points to Gideon."

Hotch's phone rang again, it was Garcia.

"Uh…do you have your tablet handy, guys?" She asked instantly when Hotch answered and put her on speaker mode.

Emily looked in the middle console and pulled out the tablet and turned it on. "What am I suppose to be looking at, Garcia?"

"Open to my window app, Emily." She answered.

Pressing the icon on the screen, it popped open and soon they were watching the interior of Gideon's cabin. Rossi leaned over to look at the screen.

"Oh my god!" Emily exclaimed "There's blood marks on the wood floor."

"Whose is it?" Dave asked.

"There's quite a lot of blood smear and it's leading out of the screen," Emily continued. "Where is that leading to?"

For an answer, the screen was switched to another room; it looked to be a kitchen.

"Looks like Jason likes to cook." Rossi commented as he looked at the state of the art kitchen that looked like a rustic kitchen but with modern technology; microwave, large freezer and fridge. And a dishwasher machine next to the sink.

"Looks like whoever had been dragged into the kitchen, look at the blood smear, it's over in the corner."

"Garcia, did you find any body?"

"I'm switching angles, you're seeing what I'm seeing…oh my god…"

They then saw a pair of shoes near the bottom of the screen, and more blood.

Then they saw blood splatter squirting onto the floor near the shoes.

"That's Gideon's shoes!" Hotch exclaimed as he glanced at the screen quickly before turning back to the road; traffic was getting congested but Hotch stepped on the gas pedal and turned on the flashers.

…

Following behind them, Morgan saw the flashers turned on, and he too switched his on.

"Something's up." He said.

"It must be Gideon." Reid said. He had been quiet the entire time since they left the Hoover building. "Hotch is right. Frank is there."

JJ began to make a phonecall, "One way to find out."

Emily answered her cell phone, "Yeah JJ?"

"Care to share?" She asked simply. "And I'm putting you on speaker."

Emily quickly explained to them about what they saw on the video feed.

"How's Gideon?" Reid asked.

"We don't know, whoever it is with him is keeping the camera angle away." Emily said.

"You know I went to the cabin and I don't remember any cameras installed." Reid said quietly.

Morgan and JJ looked at him, "He's always been private, Reid." Morgan said. "But he's cautious. Only this time he failed to turn the cameras on or he knew Frank was there."

"And he's ready for him." JJ nodded. "Em, do you have any idea how to find Jane?"

In the other vehicle, "We think she's there at the cabin too."

"You think she'll go back to Frank?" JJ asked again.

"It's hard to tell. It all depends on how Gideon can convince Frank…and Jane."

"Frank won't change. I think this time, it's either Gideon or him." Reid said ominously.

"Well, let's hope it won't come to that." Dave Rossi chimed in.

…..

In the elegant kitchen of the cabin, a woman was staring over the body of Jason Gideon.  
"Why did you have to follow him?" She asked him.

No response.

"You shouldn't have done it and he's now very, very angry with you."

Gently, she leaned over and stroked his cheek gently before she raised her knife above Gideon's chest and with a grunt, she began to stab at the body. "I'll make it all right, I'll make it all right. He won't come for us. He won't come for us…"

…

End of Chapter 4

. 


	6. Chapter 5

Requiem for Gideon

Chapter 5

:

"Jane!"

She heard him and stopped her motion and stood up quickly and peeked out the kitchen window.

She quickly jerked back on reflex; he was right outside in the back yard but he was looking the opposite direction, towards the woods.

"Go away Frank," She muttered as she watched him walked on. "Let me finish…OH!" She felt a sharp pain on the back of her head, her knife clattered and fell down, unconscious.

Dropping the iron skillet, Gideon grunted in pain as he tried to pressure his chest, the blood continued to seep out. "Sorry Jane, it's for your own good." He then bent down and grunted more at the pain as he picked her up by her hands and began dragging her towards the walking pantry. It was large enough to lock her in.

It took him about ten minutes to drag her 10 feet from where she fell.

Once he locked the door; at the time the architect designed the kitchen, he had asked Gideon why he needed a lock for his pantry, surely raccoons and bears didn't know how to open doors! Gideon shook his head and insisted on the lock, now he was glad he did.

There was no key or key hole. It was a cipher lock and required 4 digits. Only he knew the code.

Forcing himself from the kitchen, Gideon stumbled around until he reached the garage and his hunting weapons he kept in a gun safe.

"Time to go hunting…" he muttered as he dialed the digital lock to open the cabinet.

….

"How far?"

"One hour."

"Okay, what I don't understand about Frank is why now? He had been off the grid with Jane for a couple of years."

"Old habits die hard…no pun intended." Emily said.

"No but for Jane to leave him suddenly, he must have felt the need to kill again, and Jane found out about it."

"That sounds plausible." Emily replied. She looked over to Hotch who had gone quiet. The temptation to reach out and place a hand on his was hard to resist. She clenched her fist instead and looked out to her right.

Dave, his eyes still on the files, did not notice Hotch glancing at her until he sensed some tension in front.

He had suspected a while back about Hotch and Emily but so far the two had been professional. Granted, there was a sense of close camaraderie between the two. And he thought Hotch was…

Dave shook his head, even though he was separated from Haley, he was still a married man. He had known Hotch for a very long time and Hotch was a man of integrity and faithfulness. He would never cheat on Haley. But the occasional looks they two exchanged were more than colleagues.

He then felt his phone buzzing; it was a text from JJ.

Smiling he opened the message and read it and frowned.

He then looked up and said, "Hotch, is there any way Reid be off this case?"

Hotch peered at the rearview mirror, watching Dave's expression, "What happened?"

"The video of Jane stabbing Gideon…I don't think it's a good idea for him to find Gideon."

Emily turned around to look at Dave, "What happen, Dave?"

"JJ thinks Reid is shutting down again. Before, we know Gideon had left but he's still alive. If something happened to Gideon, Reid's not going to handle this well."

"Send them back?" Emily suggested.

"Or have him research on something else. I know Reid won't be able to think about anything except him. And he might compromise this case."

Hotch turned to look at Emily, "What do you think?"

Emily shook her head, "Well, we still need to find out how Frank found out about our first assignments and the victims he took. Why them?"

"It could be random." Hotch guessed.

Emily shook her head, "No…we know Frank is methodical. Remember how he chose Jane as his first victim but in the end, he fell in love with her and spared her."

"And you want Reid to find out about those victims from 4 states."

Emily nodded, "Well, it's something to keep his brains ticking."

Dave began to text JJ about the decision.

A minute later, he nodded, "Sounds good."

"Wait," Emily stopped them, "We have the files, Reid doesn't."

"I guess we'll detour up at the precinct." Hotch said as he pressed a button on his phone, "Morgan, its Hotch."

"Yeah Hotch, what do you need?"

"Actually I need Reid's help…" He began to explain to the young doctor.

"There's a station not far from the cabin. We can drop genius off before we continue." Morgan suggested.

"Sounds good, we'll meet you guys at the precinct and hand you the files."

"Roger that boss. See you in fifteen minutes."

As soon as he pressed end on his phone, it ran again.

It was Gideon! He placed the phone on speaker mode.

"Gideon! Hang in there, we're less than an hour from you." Hotch said anxiously.

"No…Agent Hotchner." Hotch and Emily gasped softly; it was not Gideon but Frank. "You won't make it."

"Frank!" Hotch uttered. "What are you doing? Listen, we'll find Jane."

"No, I know where Jane is." Frank replied. "She's here but you won't get here in time."

"Frank, don't do anything foolish."

He chuckled coldly. "Oh, I'm sure we're past that, Agent Hotchner."

Dave leaned in and touched Hotch's shoulder and shook his head.

"Hello, Frank." Dave began.

The phone was quiet for a moment, "Who's this?"

"My name is Dave Rossi, I'm new in the BAU.

"Oh? You are a new agent for the BAU, let me guess, you took the place of Jason. My, my, my, how quickly the bureau replaced such a respected and profound agent like Jason Gideon."

Emily stared at Hotch and then Dave.

"Frank, I'm not a new agent. I just came back to assist."

"Assist? And what is it you're assisting?"

"Oh…this and that, tying up loose ends." Dave replied.

"And am I a loose end?"

"Oh no, you're not. You're just a case."

There was a pause.

"I must be such a trial to the BAU team." Frank said.

"Frank, what do you want? You seem to have the upper hand; you shot Gideon, isn't that enough?"

"Oh no, Agent Rossi, I'm just beginning."

Hotch and Emily exchanged startled looks; just beginning? What did he mean by that?

Dave saw their concerned looks and looked away, "Frank, I think we should meet, and talk."

Frank laughed, "You know, Jason tried that and I must say it was not…effective. By the way, how is Dr. Reid? Is he quite recovered from Gideon's disappearance?"

"Dr. Reid is fine, in fact he's doing great." Dave shook his head.

Hotch glanced over to Emily, she nodded; they were glad they decided to take Reid out of the way, and now it looked like Frank was making a move on him next!

"I find that hard to believe, Agent Rossi. Dr. Reid is such an impressionable young man and he seem to over compensate his lack of social graces with his profound intellect. He is quite proud of his achievements earned at such an early age."

Stunned to find out Frank knew so much about Reid, Emily took out her phone and began to call JJ.

Dave continued, "You seem to know quite a bit of my team members. I must say, you've been reading a lot."

"Oh, Agent Rossi, one can only read so much but with the advantages and easy access of the public libraries and the World Wide Web, one can obtain quite a lot, you'll be surprise to know what you can find from a few keystrokes."

Hotch pulled into the parking lot of the police station and hopped out, Emily said inside with Rossi who was still talking to Frank.

Morgan soon pulled up beside the first SUV, Reid entered the precinct anxious to start on his project.

"Dave's got Frank on the phone. He's going after Reid next and he's working to eliminate us."

Morgan and JJ's eyes widened, "We must take him down."

Hotch nodded, "Right now, keep Reid in here. Keep him working on the research. Frank mentioned getting access to us via the internet he visited in public libraries. Get Garcia to find out if he has memberships and where he's been," He then handed Morgan the folder, "This is some of the states Frank had been and left a trail. Go through it with Garcia, and she has two but the vics are males with missing ribs."

The two nodded, "Do we tell him?" JJ looked at Hotch, worries lined her face.

Shaking his head, "No, not for the moment. I want him to remain focus.""

"Got it." JJ moved away and entered the precinct.

The Sheriff came out and greeted them. "Good afternoon, folks. So, you think Agent Gideon is in danger?"

Hotch and Morgan exchanged looks, "Yes Sheriff. We're heading to his cabin now."

The older man nodded, "You know he's always kept the cabin private and remote but not since that killer visited his cabin with that box. He hadn't been here for a very long while. We all thought he might sell the place."

"Sheriff, we think Frank Breitkopf is up there with Jason."

Surprise look on his face, the Sheriff straightened his stance. "What do you need, Agent Hotchner? Manpower?"

"No, we do not want to alarm him."

"Very well, let me know and I'll get it for you, Agent."

"Thank you Sheriff." Hotch nodded before he and Morgan climbed into the SUV.

…

End of Chapter 5

.


	7. Chapter 6

**Sorry it took so long to post this story!**

**.**

Requiem for Gideon

Chapter 6

:

The drive up to the cabin was made in silence.

JJ sat beside Dave in the back while Emily and Hotch remained up front.

Frank had stopped talking right before they drove on up to the cabin.

"Do you think he knows we're nearby?" JJ asked.

"It's possible." Dave said quietly.

Peripherally, Emily saw JJ's hand touched Rossi's intimately but he didn't react to it…interesting; JJ and Dave Rossi? Who would have thought? But now was not the time to think of these things!

"Look, Emily!" Hotch called out as he pulled up and stopped the SUV.

She looked up to where he indicated; it was near the cabin.

They all scrambled out of the vehicle and approached the figure sitting against the trunk of the pine tree.

It was Gideon; he had a gun on his lap.

"Gideon!" Hotch called out to him. "Gideon!" They knelt beside him as Hotch placed a hand on his neck and felt for a pulse. "He's still alive."

Gideon suddenly opened his eyes, startling them, he smiled slightly as he greeted them, "Well…hello." He said. They saw that he was saying it laboriously.

"Gideon, an ambulance is on its way, hang on." Hotch told him just as Emily stood aside and made the call.

Shaking his head slightly, "No…no matter…get …get…Frank." He looked up at Hotch.

"I will. We will."

Then he turned to Emily, "Jane … in … pantry." He began to mutter.

Emily leaned in close to him. A moment she nodded, "I'll get her out."

Gideon shook his head, "No…not now. Get Frank now. She… safe. Get Frank…" He closed his eyes.

"Gideon!" Dave exclaimed.

He opened his eyes a bit and saw Dave and smiled, "Hey Dave."

"Yes, it's me you bastard. Because of you, I have to step in."

Shaking his head, Gideon said, "No…you just couldn't resist the team and you have some…unfinished business…"

Smiling, Dave nodded, "You do know me well, Jason but you're not giving in easily. You're helping us on this case. Where's Frank? And what's he doing with the other victims?"

But Gideon was unconscious.

Dave stood up, "He's still alive, and we're on our own." He looked at Emily and Hotch and nodded at them as he took his weapon out, "I'll stay with him, you two go."

Hotch and Emily exchanged looks before they nodded, "Ambulance should be here in a few. We're canvassing the area…within a mile from the cabin for now." He turned to Emily, "Ready?"

She nodded and they left, stepping out into the path leading towards the lake overlooking the cabin.

"What did he tell you?" Hotch asked her in a low tone as they moved as quietly as possibly.

"The code to the pantry…Jane's locked in there."

He turned to stare at her, "He has a lock in his kitchen pantry?"

She shrugged, "I guess, I didn't have time to ask, Hotch."

"I guess…being out in these woods…you would have a locked pantry just in case someone decided to break in."

"…Or a bear." She joked.

It actually took a moment before he turned to stare at her and groaned, "Seriously, Emily? That's not funny."

She giggled, "Yes it was. It took you a moment to get the joke."

"That's because it was awful." He began to laugh with her.

She suddenly stopped laughing and held her hand up and frowned.

He instantly did the same as he looked around.

"I heard a twig snapped over to our right…about twenty feet." She whispered.

He nodded and slowly moved behind her and went towards the direction she indicated and soon he was gone. Emily staid where she was but kept her eyes alert.

Ten minutes later, Hotch came back alone, shaking his head, "There were some tracks over there but it's gone."

"Shall we keep moving?" She asked.

He nodded, "Let's go along where we heard the sound and move along the path."

Suddenly they heard something again and turned to it.

"Hotch…over there! By the trees."

"I see it, I think it's … Oh shit! Run, Emily!" He pulled her along and began running the opposite direction.

"Oh my god! I can't believe he likes it out here!"

A big gigantic black bear began lumbering after them, followed by two smaller ones.

"I'll never tell another bear jokes ever again!" She screamed as they kept running.

"Just keep running, Emily! They're gaining on us!"

"I am, Hotch! I am!"

…

It was over an hour since the ambulance had left, Dave Rossi was beginning to worry about Hotch and Emily; they were gone too long. It shouldn't take them more than half an hour to cover a mile perimeter around the cabin.

And it was getting dark.

The sun was setting earlier at this time of the year; Frank knew what he was doing when he came back here.

And Dave Rossi was not familiar with this area. And a huntsman knew not to hunt in a place he was not familiar with.

"Where are you two?" He muttered as he looked outward.

Then he received a phone call from Reid?

"Er, Hello?"

"Agent Rossi?"

"Yes, this is he, what do you need, Dr. Reid?" Rossi shook his head in the air; he had never figured out the young man at all.

"Er…you need to get away…away from the cabin…Frank, he's close by!"

"I'm well aware of it, Dr. Reid…"

"You don't understand, I can't reach Hotch or Emily….they're not answering their phones, Garcia said their phones' GPS are close to the cabin…I think Frank's got them and he's near…get away…now!"

Dave turned around rapidly and pointed his gun when he heard something behind him.

"Reid…I'll call you back…a little busy at the moment..." He bent down and retrieved Gideon's rifle, hoping that it was still loaded.

"No…no, no…Rossi! Rossi! Wait!"

Ending the call, he then tossed the phone over the hedge near the cabin and turned back again, "Okay…why the heck Jason likes this damn place I'll never figure out…seriously, is mountain lions a usual thing here in these mountains? I'm going to teach him the finer arts of hunting ducks when he gets better…the damn fool!" he muttered to himself as he trained the weapon on it as it was growling. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty…wanna be my rug in front of my fireplace?"

….

End of Chapter 6


	8. Chapter 7

Requiem for Gideon

Chapter 7

:

Reid turned to Morgan, "I…he hung up on me, Morgan." And tossed his phone on the table and placed his hand under his chin dejectedly. "And I haven't told him all about Frank." He stared at the printed medical records he had just received from the local hospital.

"He'll figure it out sooner or later." Morgan said.

"Yeah, the thing I don't get is why he feels the need to take the ribs, it wouldn't work."

Reid nodded, "Yeah…and I think Jane knew about it too. And she wanted out of it."

Morgan frowned, "Reid, what if it's not Frank all along?"

The younger man stared at him, "What do you mean?"

"What if the latest crimes…the men, it's not Frank's work. You know it's not Frank's M.O. He likes women." Morgan continued. "And Jane watched and became his student…no, became his replacement."

"How long does Frank have?"

"According to the doctor, not much…stage 4 advance lymph cyclic cancer of the brains. I don't think he'll even make it by this evening."

Eyes wide, Reid was stunned, "Oh…Oh…you're right, Morgan…it is Jane." He began to look at the medical records, at the ME readings and nodded. "Yeah…Yeah…you're right…here it is." He stood up, "We have to get Jane."

….

"Are they still behind us?" Emily asked as she kept running.

"Yes! They're not giving up! I think we're food for the cubs."

"Lunch or dinner?"

"Come on, Em!" He panted. "This. Is. Really. No. Time. For. Jokes."

She laughed in between panting, "Seriously, you need to lighten up, look, I see a lake ahead."

"Em….bears swim too….in fact, they swim better than us."

"I know, I was suggesting, we bait them into going into the lake!"

"Oh…good idea…how are you going to bait them?"

"Oh…I don't know." She grinned.

He stared at her, "Em, you're not going to be the bait!" He began to slow down.

She laughed, "No! I think cubs are cute but at a distance…hey...hey…pick up your pace!" She slowed down for him. "Come on old man."

"I'm not old!" He began to run hard again. "Old man my ass!"

She laughed beside him.

"I know! But you love me anyways!" She laughed again even more then suddenly stopped running when she noticed the bears were nowhere.

Hotch stopped as well but he was a few feet ahead of her before he realized she had stopped, "Wha…hey! Where're the bears?"

She shook her head, "I think we tired them!"

He grinned, "I think so too." He walked to stand by her and rested. "It's a good thing too. I think I'm out of gas."

She nodded, "Yeah me too. Need to stay away from Garcia's home-made choco-chip cookies."

He nodded, "Yeah, me too."

They began to walk back towards the cabin.

"Is it me or is it getting dark?" Emily was looking up the trees.

Hotch looked up, "Yeah…I mean it's getting dark early. We better hustle."

"Do you know where we're at?"

"Yeah, just up ahead…right?" Hotch pointed.

"I think we're lost."

He shook his head, "We're not lost, Emily. All we need to do is just keep ahead…we'll be fine…Are you scare?"

She shrugged. "No, not at all, you're with me here, Hotch." She looked at him.

He returned her look and nodded as they kept walking.

"We're lost." She muttered.

"We're not lost, Prentiss."

…

Morgan and Reid were at the cabin with Dave, "They're lost."

Dave nodded, "I think so."

"Where's Jane?"

Dave pointed inside the cabin, "In the pantry."

Reid looked worried.

"Relax, kid. It has a lock."

"A lock? Who'd put a lock in a pantry?" Morgan asked.

"Jason Gideon." Dave answered nonchalantly.

"Yeah, I believe his idiosyncrasies." Morgan uttered.

"Do you have the password or code?" Reid asked.

Dave shook his head, "He told Prentiss…I think it's a 4 digit code."

Reid began to think hard.

"I don't think you know what it is, kid." Dave said. "He's pretty fanatic with it."

Reid nodded, "Yeah…I figured it."

"Uh, Rossi, this fella…" Morgan was staring at the table. "…nice work but kind of messy."

Dave smiled, "Relax Derek, once we clean it and field dress it, he'll make a nice rug. I can't wait till he lay in front of my fireplace in my den." He rubs his hands together.

"What about the germs and bacteria?" Reid looked at it with skepticism?

"Oh, that's what curing is going to do the job." Dave explained.

"Oh." Reid frowned. "But what about the rest of the …body?"

"Do you want to eat it?"

"What? Can …you? No…No…I don't think so."

"What's wrong? You don't like red meat?"

Reid shrugged, "Yeah…but not when it's staring at me right now." He pointed at it."

Morgan grinned. "Can you actually eat mountain lion meat, Rossi?"

He shrugged, "Not if you're on survival mode or just out of curiosity." He looked around and saw an outdoor grill, "I'm sure Jason won't mind if we have some grilled cougar steaks for dinner."

Morgan and Reid exchanged looks, "Uh, Rossi, need help…I mean I'm not cutting Simba but I'll help with the kitchen."

Rossi smiled, "I'll take care of Simba, let's take a look at what's in the kitchen…although I don't know what we're going to do about the pantry…"

"Hey…back in the days…" Morgan smiled. "Men never used spices in the stone ages."

"Let's go…cave man Morgan."

…

"What's that, Hotch?" Emily pointed as she narrowed her gaze beyond across them.

"It's a lump…big lump…size of a body." Hotch said.

"Human size, it looks like." They walked to it.

"Be careful, Em." He warned her.

She nodded. "I hope it's not a bear, playing dead."

"Emily! You said no more bear jokes!"

"I'm sorry!"

He shook his head, "Just approach with caut…"

They saw the form and knew right away who it was.

"Speaking of bears…looks like it's been mauled by bears…it's Frank." Emily turned the body over to reveal the body partially eaten. "I guess, they had their lunch."

"There goes Frank." Hotch pronounced with finality.

Emily nodded. "Yes, We're done with him. Now what about Jane? How's she going to deal with Frank being gone?"

"Better." Hotch said. "I'll be." He shrugged. "The world is now a better place with Frank being gone."

Emily nodded. "Thank goodness. Let's head back and tell the rest."

He nodded and sniffed, "Do you smell something?"

She sniffed, "Yeah, like something is burning…"

"Hope the cabin is not on fire."

"Oh my god…Jane's stuck inside!" Emily's widened as they began to run again.

"Why are we always running?"

"I don't know but we're getting too old for this, Hotch."

"I know!"

…..

End of Chapter 7

…...

…


	9. Chapter 8

Requiem For Gideon – Chapter 8

.

It was nearly dawn when Emily and Hotch escorted Jane to the nearest mental facility which was over fifty miles from the cabin.

"Where is Gideon?" Jane asked them from the back of the SUV.

The two agents exchanged looks before Emily answered, "Jason's dead, Jane."

Her expression sad, "How?" She asked innocently. "Frank said Gideon won't die." She stared at Emily for answers.

"Jane, Frank shot Gideon." Emily replied.

"Oh. Then all's for nothing."

Frowning, Emily turned around, "What do you mean?"

"I…Frank said he needed Gideon to succeed. But now that he's dead, it's finished."

"What do you mean succeed?" Hotch asked her.

"It's nothing." Jane replied quietly. She was still intimidated by Hotch. "Can I go home now?"

Emily looked over to Hotch. "Er…Jane, we're taking you to a place where you'll be staying there for a while."

"How long? I have to go home."

"Er…no, you'll be staying there for a long time, Jane." Emily replied sadly.

"Oh. What about Frank? When can I see him?"

Shaking her head, Emily said, "Frank is gone, Jane. He won't be seeing you for a long time."

"Oh. I'm going to miss him, right?"

Emily nodded her head. "Yeah, you'll be." She then stared out of the window out towards the scenery but she was not seeing what was out there but think of Jane and what the rest of her life in the mental facility.

Sensing her sadness, Hotch reached over and touched her hand gently, offering her some comfort.

Smiling, Emily turned to face him and turning her hand over, she held his hand and for the rest of the way, they held each other hands.

"Although, Frank did tell me about Gideon's son, Steven. So my work is not complete."

Emily paled as she clutched at Hotch's hand tightly, "Oh my god."

…

"How's he doing?"

"Peaceful and sleeping."

"Does he know?"

"Yeah. Em and Hotch escorting Jane off?"

They nodded.

"I heard you guys had Simba for dinner?"

"Oh yeah, it was pretty good, would have save you some but Dave decided to share it with Yogi and Boo Boo Bear." Morgan grinned happily.

"Who is Boo Boo Bear?"

Frowning, Morgan stared at Reid, "Don't you watch Saturday morning cartoons when you're a kid, kid?"

"Er…no, I…" The young doctor faltered.

"Hey, we were drawing some pretty good crowd from the Berenstein Bear family and if we don't share the steaks, they were gonna attack us, whether we had a choice or not." Dave grinned as he stood beside JJ who was shaking her head at the guys.

"I don't think sharing mountain lion meat counts as manly nature bonding ritual." JJ responded.

"Babe, the guys just wanted to feel manly, I didn't know they like the red meat." Dave whispered. "Derek had two huge chunks of it and medium rare."

JJ stared at him, "If I didn't know you better, I think you're proud of him."

Dave shrugged, "Well, I was…and the kid…he ate a pretty big size too. Almost rare."

JJ shook her head again, "I think you've initiated them into the Pride Rock, Mufasa." She patted on his back.

He grinned, "I was proud of them."

"Hey, they did taste pretty good; Dave did a heck of a job."

Reid nodded.

"All the way until Yogi and crew showed up."

They began to laugh.

"You know. I'd get more rest if I'm really dead." The team turned towards the bed to see Jason Gideon's eyes staring grumpily at them. "How can anyone sleep with the noise you're making?"

The team laughed as they gathered around Gideon.

"Hey, how's it going?"

"I'm good just a little sore." He replied. "Did I hear you grilled a mountain lion?" he glared at them, especially at Dave.

Altogether, the team told him the story of the advancing mountain lion.

"…and so, it was either us or Simba." Derek concluded. "And I don't feel like being buffet to him."

"Yeah, me too." Reid nodded."

"I would love to be there," Gideon said softly. "I've lived there on and off for a few years and I've never seen a real mountain lion wandering around the cabin. Well done, Dave."

Nodding, "Not a problem, it's just like shooting a duck…with wings." He shrugged. "Anyways, I'm making a rug out of him, he's going to go nicely in my den, so you're very welcome to my humble home and admire my new pelt in a few months." Dave grinned again.

Jason shook, "Thanks but I'll pass, Dave."

JJ felt her phone buzzed in her pants pocket and left the room to answer.

The team noticed her actions; they hoped it was not a case cropping up.

JJ came back into the room with a look on her face.

"That's Garcia, we have an urgent case in Tennessee."

"But Gideon?" Reid stared at her reluctantly.

"Spencer," Jason said softly.

Reid turned to him. "I…want to spend more time with you…you are not completely well."

Smiling, "Spencer, you have to let me go. You know when I leave the hospital, I'm leaving Virginia again."

"Where are you going?" Reid asked, he was almost near tears but he managed to fight it.

"I have no idea, now that Frank is dead." He shrugged. "Maybe, visit my son, I heard he was recently married."

"Won't you come back to the bureau?"

Shaking his head, "No, I'm done with the FBI." Gideon said.

Reid nodded.

Shaking his hands, "Take care Gideon," Dave and Derek said before they headed out of the hospital room.

"You guys too. And thanks for your help."

They nodded.

"Come on Spence." JJ called to him.

Reid finally nodded his head and walked to the door. "You're right, Gideon. We'll meet again. Take care." And he left.

Leaning back against his pillow, he closed his eyes, Gideon sighed. "Take care, Spencer." He whispered before he succumbed to sleep.

His phone buzzed on the night table but Gideon didn't hear it; it was Steven.

…..

Outside the mental facility, Hotch shook his head, "He's not answering his phone. He must have his phone turned off."

Emily stared at him, "We must warn him, Hotch. And his son."

"I know."

He made another phone call, "Garcia, can you track the whereabouts of Gideon's son, Steven?"

"I can't, Hotch." Garcia replied.

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I don't know his last name?"

"You don't? What about birth certificate?" Hotch offered.

"Hotch, Gideon made sure his son is not in the system."

"Damn you, Jason." Hotch muttered angrily.

Emily took the phone from Hotch, "Garcia, can you search another way…er, er…how about trying to track down Gideon's cell phone records?"

"Emily," Garcia began. "That will require time and…"

Emily nodded, "Yes, take all the time you need, PG."

"I wish but JJ and the guys are headed to Memphis and they needed my brains…"

"Garcia, this takes priority." Hotch leaned in closely next to Emily as he spoke into the phone. "This is no joke. We think Frank and Jane has Steven."

"Oh! Hotch! I…Oh…" She stuttered.

"Just get it done, Garcia." Hotch insisted.

"Yes sir." Garcia nodded. "I'll call back when I find it."

"Thank you."

As Hotch and Emily climbed into the SUV, Garcia called.

"Hotch! I found Steven! He tried to call Gideon last night!" She cried out. "The call was made right here in Virginia!"

Hotch stared at Emily, "Exact location, Garcia?"

She gave him the address.

"Let's go, Em. Let's go find him."

"I hope we're in time." Emily said as she reached for her seat belt and buckled in as she watched Hotch started the ignition.

"Have faith, Emily." Without hesitation, he turned to her and kissed her fully on her lips and smiled, "We'll fine him."

She smiled brilliantly at him, "Wow! I …Can you do this every time we rescue someone?"

He shook his head as they drove out of the parking lot, "Let's go, beautiful."

She chuckled.

….. THE END…..

Thank you everyone for reading this story! Hopefully you'll review this and give a feed back.

Thank YOU!


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